The 13.62-mile railway line connecting Gurpa and Gujhandi stations was opened on December 6,1906 by Lord Minto. It was a part of the 103.69- mile single line section between Dhanbad and Paharpur opened on December 6, 1906.
The section wise single line opening dates for Grand Chord Line were as follows:
The Gurpa – Gujhandi section was doubled on March 11,1907. The double line opening dates on the Grand Chord line were as follows:
Construction details of East Indian Railway’s Grand Chord Line
On the 281-mile Grand Chord Line of East Indian Railway between Sitarampore to Moghalsarai, seven types of rails -85lbs BH steel, 88.5lbs BH steel, 90 lbs BSFF rails, 90 lbs RBSFF rails, 100 lbs D H rails, 100 lbs BSFF rails and 115 lbs BSFF rails were used to lay tracks.
The ruling gradient on the Grand Chord line was 1 in 200 (1:200 compensated on curves) with a 1 in 80 (1:80) banking section between Gurpa and Gujhandi.
As of 1937, about 29.27 per cent of the sleepers were wooden, made of sal and deodar trees and the remaining were iron. The iron sleepers were Denham Olphert pattern, EIR pattern and steel trough sleepers. The line was ballasted with stone and fenced throughout.
[Note: British era station names on East Indian Railway has been retained. Sitarampore is now Sitarampur and Moghasarai is now Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Jn]
